Battle of Ascalon (1180)

The Battle of Ascalon was a battle of the crusades era, fought between the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Ayyubid Sultanate in 1180 near what is now the city of Ashkelon in Israel. An invading Egyptian army was intercepted before it could besiege Ascalon, and Balian of Ibelin led his relief army in a flank attack on the Egyptian army, which was stationed atop a mountain; the garrison of Ascalon, led by Edgar Payne, made minor contributions to the battle. Balian was seen as a hero for his great victory in the battle, but the Ayyubids would return in 1186.

Battle
An Ayyubid army of over 700 troops marched north from Egypt to answer the call for jihad from imam Batrawi, marching on Jerusalem through the Sinai desert and the Gaza Strip. The army came dangerously close to Ascalon, a city defended by 441 troops under Edgar Payne, the adoptive son of King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem. Baldwin dispatched his trusted general Balian of Ibelin with 381 troops to relieve the city before it could come under siege from the Egyptians, and battle was met just to the south of the city.

The crusaders had the disadvantage of facing an uphill battle, and Edgar Payne's army was busy marching to the field of battle for much of the time that the two armies were engaged; his men barely fought in the battle. Balian and his smaller army took advantage of the fact that the Egyptian army had no general or any talented troops, and they moved up the Egyptian-held hilltop on the Egyptian right flank, moving to the west of the hill to assault the Egyptian positions. The Jerusalemite infantry and cavalry hacked away at the armed Muslim pilgrims, massacring the weak infantry; the Jerusalemites then proceeded to wheel right and catch the Ayyubid army from behind. The left flank of the Ayyubid army went on the move to engage Payne's army as it marched into battle, so Balian led his men in the utter routing of the Ayyubid right flank before advancing downhill. The Ayyubids were faced by Payne's army to the front and Balian's charging troops to the rear, led by the valiant Balian himself. The Muslims were massacred, and the crusaders won a great victory. The Muslim prisoners were all executed when Sultan Saladin refused to pay their ransom.